Outward-Directed Security Threats

Abstract

This chapter addresses the outward-directed threats (e.g., illegal migration, refugees, the use of force, and terrorism). It shows how the “authority vacuum” created by the Arab Spring revolutions has enabled these threats to emerge, while adding the role of those targeted by these threats, that is, the outside world, particularly the immediate neighborhood of the Mediterranean and Southern Europe. In particular, the inability to enable smooth regime transitions from Iraq to Libya to Syria should cause Middle Eastern, European, and US decision-makers to pause and examine alternative approaches. The calls for adapting hard power diplomacy and defense capabilities were answered to a certain extent in the Obama presidential administration and the European Union. However, in recognition of the “original sin,” this chapter examines how problems of economic and political development, institution and state building, rule of law and reconciliation, governance and civil society have been dealt with so far.